Trump escalates feud with Senate GOP leader over health care

J. Scott Applewhite

FILE – In this Aug. 1, 2017 file photo, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Ky. listens during a news conference on Capitol Hill Washington. A top White House aide and a Fox News host are criticizing McConnell after the Senate majority leader said people think Congress hasn&apos;t achieved anything this year partly because President Donald Trump has created “excessive expectations.” (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

“Can you believe that Mitch McConnell, who has screamed Repeal & Replace for 7 years, couldn’t get it done. Must Repeal & Replace ObamaCare!” Trump tweeted Thursday.

The president bristled this week after McConnell, R-Ky., told an audience in his home state that Trump had “not been in this line of work before” and had “excessive expectations about how quickly things happen in the democratic process.” Both before and after taking office, Trump spoke repeatedly about passing the massive health care overhaul quickly.

Asked to respond to Trump’s statement, McConnell spokesman David Popp said, “The leader has spoken repeatedly about the path forward regarding Obamacare repeal and replace on the Senate floor, at media availabilities and in Kentucky.”

The Senate rejected repeated attempts by McConnell last month to approve legislation annulling and rewriting much of President Barack Obama’s health care law. Nursing a 52-48 majority, McConnell needed support from 50 GOP senators to prevail because of unanimous Democratic opposition, but there were enough Republican “no” votes on each tally to sink the effort. Vice President Mike Pence would have broken cast a tie-breaking vote.

McConnell spelled out his view of the path forward in his Monday remarks to the Rotary Club in Florence, Kentucky.

“If people can show me 50 votes for anything that would make progress on that, I’ll turn back to it. But in the absence of that, we’re…